Latin American Area Studies

College of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Dean: Joel Kassiola

Latin American Area Studies Program
HSS 382
415-338-2055
Director: JoAnn Aviel

Faculty

Professors--Arias, Aviel, Bettleheim, Bruhns, Cabeza-Olias, Calderon, Cordova, Cuellar, Girard, Pahl, Randolph

Associate Professors--Bourgois, Oñate, Peard, Rivera

Assistant Professors--Baron, Carillo

Program

Minor in Latin American Area Studies

Program Scope

The Minor in Latin American Area Studies is a multidisciplinary program for the student seeking greater knowledge of Latin American society. The program is designed to provide the student with an understanding of a variety of aspects of Latin America, including the history, language and literature, social, economic, cultural, and political development and international relations. The minor provides great flexibility to explore a wide range of subjects of particular interest--from the ancient Maya to doing business in Latin America--as well as to specialize in particular areas, such as Central America or Mexico.

The minor will be useful to students planning careers in education, the foreign service, international organizations, overseas corporations and banking, as well as for those who simply desire a better understanding of Latin America. The multidisciplinary nature of the program also prepares the student for further study in any number of academic fields at the graduate level.

The Latin American Area Studies Minor consists of a core curriculum of three courses which deal with the region as a whole from a variety of disciplinary perspectives plus fifteen or sixteen units of upper division courses taken from the following list, upon advisement.

MINOR IN LATIN AMERICAN AREA STUDIES

Courses for this program are listed in alphabetical sequence (consult Index for page reference).

Units

Core Courses

The Latin American Past		3
ANTH/HIST/LARA/SS 501 Latin America: 
The National Period
HIST 510	Colonial Latin America
Modern Latin America(one of the following)		3-4
IBUS 591	Doing Business in Latin America
IR 322	Latin American Relations (4)
PLSI 403	Latin American Politics (4)
PLSI 409	Central American Politics (4)
SS/HIST 550	Social Change in Modern 
Latin America
Cultures of Latin America--one of the following		3
LARA 450	Indigenismo: Indigenous Culture 
and Personality
MUS 532	Music of Latin America
SPAN 405	Culture and Civilization of 

	Spanish America
Total for core		9-10

Electives

Select at least one course from each group, with 
no more than nine units from one disci-
pline. Courses taken in the core may not be
used to meet this part of the requirement. 15-16

Group I: Latin American Past

ANTH 471	The Ancient Maya
ANTH 475	Ancient South America
HIST 510	Colonial Latin America
HIST 520	Central America and the 
Caribbean
HIST 524	History of Mexico
HIST 528	History of Brazil
HIST 535	History of Women in Latin 
America
HIST 652	Proseminar in World History: 
Reform and Revolution in
Latin America
LARA 460	Central Americans of the U.S.: 
History and Heritage

Group II: Modern Latin America

ANTH 315	Regional Ethnography [Topic: 
Peoples and Cultures of
Central America]
IBUS 591	Doing Business in Latin 
America
IR 306	U.S.-Central American 
Relations (4)
IR 322	Latin American Relations (4)
LARA 660	Contemporary Movements in 
La Raza
PLSI 403	Latin American Politics (4)
PLSI 409	Central American Politics (4)
SS/HIST 550	Social Change in Modern 
Latin America

Group III: Cultures of Latin America

ANTH 470	Archaeology of Mexico
ART 500	Prehistoric Art of Mexico
ART 503	Caribbean Art
HUM/LARA 520	North and South American 
Cultural Expression
LARA 320	Art History of La Raza
LARA 410	La Raza Women
LARA 425	Comparative Music Folklore
LARA 450	Indigenismo: Indigenous Culture 
and Personality
LARA 560	Contemporary Literature of 
La Raza
LARA 570	Philosophy of La Raza
MUS 532	Music of Latin America
SPAN 405	Culture and Civilization of 
Spanish America
SPAN 541	Spanish American Literature: 
Discovery to Early Romanticism
[all topics]
SPAN 543	Spanish American Literature: 
Romanticism to Modernism
[all topics]
SPAN 545	Twentieth Century Spanish 
American Literature [all topics]
SPAN 595	Senior Survey in Spanish or 
Spanish American Literature

	[all Spanish American topics]
Total for electives		15-16
Total for minor		24-26

Foreign Language Requirement

All students completing this area studies minor are required to demonstrate intermediate level competency in a language other than English, relevant to the area. This requirement may be met by completing the university entrance requirement of two years of high school language study, one year of successful college level language study, or by demonstration of equivalent competency.